History of Eugenics: How Those in Power Shape the Perfect Human Essay

eugenics, the study of hereditary traits with the aim of producing an sample human, and on a societal level, programs that understand human reproduction with the intent of changing the transmissible structureof the existence, (Lewis, 299) are non a new conceit. The hi invention of eugenics reaches as remote back as 400 B. C. , and extends to dates as recent as 1994. From capital of Greece to Sparta, get together States to Ger many a nonher(prenominal) and China, the quest to improve the human race has spanned the world. Improve, however, is a highly subjective term. Who decides what an holy person human looks like?And what are the appropriate ways to build a race of such concourse? The answers to these questions urinate changed throughout the centuries. People considered ideal by the eugenics program in unrivaled culture would be scheduled to be euthanized as undesirable in a nonher culture a a couple of(prenominal) centuries later. Upon reviewing the history of eugenic s, it becomes homely that the constituent of a society in antecedent at a special(a) time in history, usually seeks to eliminate those least like themselves, in order to impose not only their values, except their truly phenotype on society at large.The first written accounts of eugenics reach back to 386 B. C. In his work The Republic, a description and plan for an Utopia, or ideal society, the Athenian philosopher Plato is said to have written that procreation should be controlled by the bring up. Through a state-sponsored selection of mates, race would be strengthened by improved children. (Life of Plato). Men aged 30-45 would be allowed to reproduce, as well as women aged 20-40. Any child born in violation of these rectitudes would be aband matchlessd outside the walls of the city. Some of Platos ideas had already been put into action in Sparta, around 431 BC.In line with the concept of Eunomia, weak male infants were left to die on slopes of Mt. Taygetus. (The true stor y) The Spartans practiced an uncompromising genetics programme. Newborn babies were raised only if ample and perfect, so as not to be a burden to the state and to ensure genetic up-breeding. (Leonidas the Spartan). It is worthy of noting that the Spartans were Greeks- with olive skin, dark change surface hair, and brown eyes.To them, physical fitness was more important than moral virtues Sparta was precisely famous for chaste women, according to Euripides, a then-contemporary writer. Leonidas) The ideal person was a strong, fit male, and a woman who could reproduce often, bearing healthy children. This ideal was written into law by the Spartan King Leonidas, and adhered to until the eventual personal identification number of the Spartan city-state. The next worldwide resurgence of eugenics occurred in the Victorian era. In 1863, Britains Sir Francis Galton, who was a cousin of Charles Darwin, coined the term eugenics. (Lewis, 300). He theorized that the mating of two geniuse d people would produce better offspring. (Eugenics Timeline).His ideas rapidly spread to the United States and Germany. The concept of selective mating to achieve the elimination of undesirable traits became popular. Stanford prexy David Starr Jordan originated the notion of race and blood in his 1902 racial epistle Blood of a Nation, in which the university scholar declared that human qualities and conditions such as talent and poverty were passed through the blood. (Black, Edwin. ) Soon aft(prenominal), in 1907, the US state of atomic number 49 passed the worlds first mandatory sterilization law. (Smith, pg. 36-137).The aim of the law was to prevent the birth of children which might inherit such undesirable traits as criminality, mental defects and feeble-mindedness. In 1911, the Preliminary Report of the Committee of the Eugenic slit of the American Breeders Association to Study and to Report on the Best Practical Means for Cutting Off the Defective Germ-Plasm in the servic eman Population, a venture which was supported by Andrew Carnegie, one of the greatest philanthropists of that era, listed 18 solutions to resolve this problem.Number Eight was euthanasia of undesirables. A gas chamber was suggested as a possible option. (Black, Edwin). In 1918, capital of Minnesota Popenoe wrote a widely used textbook, Applied Eugenics, which again recommended euthanasia From an historic point of view, the first method which pre displaces itself is execution Its value in guardianship up the standard of the race should not be underestimated. (Black, Edwin). We may be tempted to believe that euthanasia as a form of genetic control never came to be used in the United States, but this is not the case.At the ame time Popenoe propagated his ideas, a mental institution in Lincoln, Illinois had a policy of feeding in approach path patient ofs milk from tuberculosis-infected cows. It was thought that an eugenically strong individual would be immune. The institution had a 30-40% death rate of incoming patients. (Black, Edwin. ) entirely those deemed insane were only the first on the abundant list of people considered genetically inferior. They were closely followed by those deemed feeble-minded or licentious. nearly recent immigrants fell into the first group- IQ tests of the time determined that the fairish immigrant had a moron-grade intelligence level. Smith, John David. pg. 161) IQ was considered an innate characteristic, something that was definite, unchangeable and transmissible. Nevermind the position that the IQ tests were administered in what usually the immigrants second language, by untrained secretaries or other flunkies, and skewed to favor Americans of Nordic descent.Because of economic hardship during those times, many people in power sought to limit the tide of immigrants- which were coming mostly from Eastern European countries, as well as Italy. Eugenecists and their sloshed supporters shared an antipathy for class struggl e, and considered poverty another inheritable trait. In this way, they could successfully blame the victims for their own problems. (Allen, Garland E. Social Origins of Eugenics. ) Jews and Gypsies, in addition to African-Americans, were also considered of inferior genetic stock, because they did not represent the Nordic phenotype ideal that was most standardised to those in the ruling class. Eugenic tests were conducted to support this agenda.The results were mostly skewed, and sometimes, as in the now-infamous Kalikak study, altogether manufactured. The Kalikak study was the tush of a book written in 1914 by Henry Goddard, entitle Feeblemindedness Its Causes and Consequences. The book became very influential, and led to many states adopting laws for the forcible sterilization of slow-witted individuals, and other undesirable traits shuch as being passionate or sexually wayward.In Sonoma, California, some women were sterilized because of abnormally large clitoris or labia, wh ich doctors thought may lead to licentious behavior Black, Edwin. ) Rapists and similar criminals were generally not subjected to sterilization instead, most of the sterilized were women. It quickly becomes apparent that the less-than-ideal traits in the United States in this age were being promiscuous, socially dependent, or from a non-Nordic country. These qualities are quite different from those considered undesirable a few centuries earlier, by the Athenians and Spartans. The spread of eugenics continued, from the United States to Germany.Germany was undergoing great economic hardship after WWI, and Hitlers proclamation that they were of a superior Germanic or Indo- Aryan race and thus entitled to more of the worlds resources was very well received. In 1924, Hitler espoused his version of eugenics in his book Mein Kampf. Hitler even wrote a fan letter to US eugenics leader Madison dispense, calling Grants book The Passing of the Great Race his bible. (Black, Edwin. ) Hitlers i deas corresponded to the American eugenecists concepts of the superiority of a White Race.In the US, marriage among Whites and Blacks was commandden by law in many states, with the aim of belongings the superior White race pure. In fact, inter-racial marriage did not become universally legal in the United States until 1967. Because of their similar outlooks, American and Nazi eugenicists often corresponded and shared research. John D. Rockefeller even donated $410,000 ($4 one million million by todays standards) to German researchers for eugenics research. The research was done on Jews, Gypsies and others.In 1932, the Rockefeller Foundation gave additional funds for the Germans research on jibe and substances toxic to germ plasm. In other words, human interrogatory of lethal substances, or those causing infertility. As eugenics research continued, so did the collaborationism of German and American scientists- in 1934 there was even a Nazi display in LA, for the annual meetin g of the American Public health Association. (Black, Edwin). The Germans seized upon the American idea of sterilization of undesirables, and by 1934, were sterilizing 5,000 people per month.By 1939, they had locomote on to euthanizing 5,000 children with birth defects or mental retardation, followed by 70,000 unfit adults. (Lewis, Ricky. pg 300) As WWII swept over Europe and Hitler gained control of more lands, his armies and his doctors embarked on a quest of purging the lands of their native, inferior populations. According to the United States Holocaust archives Museum, in 1933, there were approximately 9 million Jews in Europe. By 1945, the Nazis had reduced that number to about 3 million. Roma (Gypsies) were also sent to the concentration camps, resulting in about 200,000 Gypsy deaths.Physically and mentally handicapped, homosexuals, and coating intellectuals accounted for at least another 200,000. This totals about 6,400,000 victims of the concentration camps. The Nazis al so killed in the midst of 2 and 3 million Soviet prisoners in labor camps or executions. Added to this toll should be the non-Jewish Poles and Soviets sent to forced labor who died due to malnutrition, unprotected work conditions, disease and experimentation. The experimentation in question was most notably conducted by Josef Mengele, an eugenicist who arrived in 1943 in Auschwitz.His aim was to conduct anthropological interrogation, which involved gruesome torture of his subjects. (Black, Edwin. ) Once again, the prerogatives of the class in power influenced the eugenics endeavor, by seeking ways to eliminate those not fitting the Aryan ideal, which included men and women who were tall, blonde and blue-eyed, and of the pure Germanic stock. After introduction War II, eugenics was declared a crime against humanity. (Black, Edwin. ) The American eugenics movement was renamed human genetics in 1949, and many of the same scientists continued their research. lag in Germany, Mengele s boss and mentor became a dean of a university, and a member of the American Society of Human Genetics. The eugenics movement, though renamed, was not extinct. Eugenics laws were passed as recently as 1994 in China. The Maternal and Infant wellness Care Law proposed to ensure the quality of the newborn population and forbid procreation between two people if physical exams show genetic disease of a serious nature including mental illness, seizures and other conditions that were worn and not necessarily inherited. (Lewis, Ricky. g. 300)Given the oppression, infanticide, forced sterilization and genocide that resulted from earthly concern attempts at eugenics over the course of history, it is difficult to see any electropositive aspects of the concept. Because the ruling class determines the desirability of superior traits, any benefit to humanness in general is doubtful- the perceived benefit to some comes at the expense of the suffering and death of many. Overall, eugenics seem s to seek to negatively impact genetic diversity, which has long been a quality that has facilitated the survival of mankind.The presence of eugenics in modern times is the subject of much debate. Some interpret the assistance given to unimpregnated couples in modern times as a form of eugenics, but this is hardly the case. These are merely the attempts of individual people to have a baby which looks like them, to fulfill their dreams of having a family. No one is stipendiary them to reproduce any supposedly-superior genes (positive eugenics), or trying to limit their fruitful rights (negative eugenics), (Lewis, Ricky. g. 299) There is also the matter of the genetic research into the Human Genome, and by extension, into inherited genetic diseases. However, this research aims to limit human suffering, is non-invasive for the patient and leaves all decisions to the parents of the potentially-affected offspring. None of the aspects of negative eugenics, such as sterilization of the parents or the abortion of the fetus are mandated by any law, and any brass at this time.Nonetheless, human rights activists and all citizens must remain alert, lest the ghost of eugenics should goat its ugly head again. Genetic history should never be a matter of public record, and a persons genes should never be the basis of discrimination against them. Federal genetic anti-discrimination legislation was finalized in the US in 2008, and it is hoped that other countries will follow suit. We must always recall the injustices committed in the past, in the name of creating the ideal human, and extend to to prevent them in the future.